


yours; in shining armour

by nalbwanalbwa



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: M/M, advisor! Minhyun, knight! Daniel, prince! Seongwu, prince! jihoon, royal!AU, small and precious Sungwoon, with a lot of plotholes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 20:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15849057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nalbwanalbwa/pseuds/nalbwanalbwa
Summary: There should be an alternate universe, where Jihoon is not a prince that is about to be sent away, and Daniel is not a knight that is going to send him away, and in the same universe, perhaps they can freely belong to each other, but this is not it.





	yours; in shining armour

**Author's Note:**

  * For [autumndark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumndark/gifts).



> sigh. first of all, this is not proof-read until mentioned otherwise. I am so honoured and happy to be this part of this exhange!! but my procrastinating ass cannot relate so half of this is written my flight to Manila so yeah, that’s another warning uh huh
> 
> enjoy, I guess? /insert nervous laugh here

***

In the past 22 years, Lai Guanlin has never questioned anything that his father has required from him – perhaps it is because his father is the Emperor and the Emperor’s words are absolute, or Guanlin is simply a good son – but for either reason, Guanlin is not about to start now. So, when his father tells him to attend the royal wedding at the neighbouring country, Daehan and brings the other prince, not the wedded one, back home to Taipan, he only asks if it should be done by carriages or by horses.

 

“It seems like you are picking up your bride,” his cousin Yukhei teases him, his big, mischievous eyes twinkling, having his request to accompany Guanlin to the wedding approved only a while ago.

 

Guanlin, who has just learned about the issue plaguing Daehan as a country, and how they need his country’s aid in term of military supports and the prince in talk is the price of that agreement, scoffs at the rainbow-tinted view of the young man before him. “This is more like kidnapping a bride.”

 

* * *

 

The journey to Daehan’s castle town, the centre of their main city, passes several districts and takes their entourage almost a full day - mainly due to multiple carriages carrying both silks and silverware as the wedding gifts as well as half a thousand sets of bows and arrows and other weaponries that Guanlin does not bother to take notes of. The festivities that greet them, much to Yukhei’s excitement, as their horses walk past the castle gate are expected - he has been informed that the wedding is to be celebrated as gallant as possible as to mask the preparation for the upcoming battle - but other than that, Guanlin has a clean slate, especially on the prince that he is supposed to bring back home.

“The prince will be good for you,” his father has told him, and being the kind of man he is, clarified nothing more. There are many kinds of persons that will be good for Guanlin right now, and he is not quite sure which one Prince Jihoon of Daehan will be. Yukhei, the social butterfly and ever-so-informed, spills it to him that this Prince Jihoon is a Commander-in-Chief for Daehan’s sizeable army brigade, and known for his reputable leadership and critical analysis abilty when it comes about planning any operations.

This bit of information is better than nothing but it still does not give Guanlin enough to project what sort of person he will see - but whatever images that Guanlin’s uncreative mind has come up with (someone tall, dark and burly), he is proven completely wrongjust as he jumps off his horse to greet the representatives from royal household that have come to welcome them.

Of course, there is a formidable aura emitted from the graceful figure, and while Jihoon is a head shorter than both Guanlin and Yukhei, no one can miss the strong muscles on his arms and thighs, apparent from the cotton get-ups that the prince adorns. Yet, the features on his face are all soft, and albeit not at all feminine, beautiful even.

Perhaps Guanlin should not have stared too much but when the uniquely shaped eyes twitch at Yukhei’s endless questions in his booming voice, Guanlin decides that he likes Jihoon.

 

The castle, too, like the town surrounding it, is bustling with the last minute touch of preparations, Guanlin notes as he makes way to the east wing of the buildings, reserved for the guests that have been cordially invited for the celebration. Yukhei immediately makes himself at home, greeting all the familiar faces that he knows from the tea parties and balls that he likes to attend. Guanlin, however, has not been granted the same luxury of doing what he wants to do - which is neither catching up nor making new friends but rather, to indulge himself with the soft, feathery bed prepared for him - but instead, he is dragged to a strategic meetings for the upcoming battle with the Daehan’s side of marching battallion, by the General Captain of Taipan’s own brigades, who has come along with the entourage for that sole reason.

Guanlin has no knowledge at all about the battle, or battles in general, or anything political while it matters - being simply a prince by his birthright - but the same cannot be said by Prince Jihoon, who bends over the maps and leads the discussion adeptly like he does it regularly. Remembering the little spoiler that Yukhei has tipped him, Guanlin corrects himself - Jihoon most probably does this regularly.

“You are really good at this,” he tells the prince over the tea and some local sweets that he has come to like. “I don’t understand much but if General Wang doesn’t talk you down, you must be really great.”

Jihoon laughs at that, a little awkwardly - it somehow sounds like a-ha-ha-ha pronounced literally, as he runs his fingers through his slightly ruffled light brown hair.

“It is much easier to come up with battle plans when you suddenly have twice the numbers of marching troops and less worries about armory supplies,” he says earnestly. “I know you does not have anything much to do about it, but I, on behalf of my people, cannot be thankful enough for this alliance.”

Perhaps this is what his father has meant when he says Jihoon will be able to teach Guanlin a lot, because as of now, Guanlin cannot quite fathom thanking someone for offering a deal that consequently will rip him off from everything familiar to him.This is probably a hasty judgement but Jihoon does not seem to dwell too much about it even though his life will greatly change the day after tomorrow, and he also does not look like he has much to lose, though there must be something that binds him to this castle that he calls home.

 

It is strange, and Guanlin is getting curious.

 

More guests arrive in the next morning, from high-born family members from other countries and kingdoms, just in time for the grand wedding ceremony later at night, after a quiet exchange of vows in the castle chapel witnessed by the immediate families of the bride and grooms. Guanlin sees the Crown Prince of Daehan for the first time during the ceremony - Prince Seongwu stands tall next to his bethroted, short black hair waxed up in perfection, framing the face that will be considered as handsome in all different kind of standards accross the land. He looks fairly distinguishable from his younger brother, as expected from half-brothers from two different mothers, but both of them possess the charming confidence that are distintively regal.

 

Jihoon, dressed up in crisp suits in warm violet, the colour of the royal family host, with his pretty eyes lined with charcoal and hair carefully styled, looks quite apologetic when he approaches Guanlin among the crowd.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I have so many people to greet - where’s your cousin?”

Guanlin has not seen Yukhei since the dance floor is opened after the first dance by the royal couple, and he is abandoned even by General Wang who has slipped off from the celebration early to attend to yet another well-hidden military meeting with Jihoon’s trusted right-hands.

“If you are sorry then you should honor me a dance,” he says with a playful note in his voice.

Jihoon takes the hint pleasantly and leads them to the dance floor. It appears to be that Jihoon is also a good dancer, on top of everything else that he can do - and that makes Guanlin look more helpless than he already is, with his mediocre skill to command his own two feet.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jihoon reassures Guanlin after the younger prince apologises for the nth time, though he light-heartedly agrees to end their little dance session after two songs to save Guanlin from further humiliation.

When Guanlin returns from getting drinks for both of them - something he has insisted to do to make up for his underperformance on the dance floor, much to Jihoon’s amusement - he finds that the prince is not alone.

“I am allowed to have a dance with a Knight, Daniel.”

“You are allowed to do many things, my prince, but I am only here to remind Minhyun not to have too much wine tonight - and I need to return to my post now.”

“Later, then, my room -“

It seems like Guanlin has intercepted a rather intimate conversation because Jihoon stops dead on his track when he realizes Guanlin’s presence in the vicinity. It does not take long for the man he is with takes notice of the change of expression on the prince’s face, and turns around.

“Oh, you must be Prince Lai Guanlin from Taipan,” the man greets him with a deep bow and Guanlin takes notes of his slicked back blonde hair, and the wide shoulders that makes his waist appears slimmer than it actually is, wrapped in tight leather vest over a purple shirt. When he looks up,for some reasons, Guanlin feels like he needs to pay close attention to his face, from the mole under his eyes, and the warm, friendly smile that he gives to the foreign prince.

“They call me Daniel - please take good care of _my_ prince.”

 

***

 

When the guide ward raised his hand high to signal the envoy to stop, Daniel realized that the situation was just as bad as they had expected, only if by basing on several spots of dark smokes that could still be seen at a distance, and the number of those spots were way too many. There was a bunch of people that had gathered to welcome their arrival, but Daniel only saw one person, from the moment he halted his horse just a few steps behind the Crown Prince’s, and as he jumped off from the back of the animal. There was an urgency in those pretty eyes, who had bore into Daniel’s as soon as their gaze met and there was a twinge of ache slipped into the bottom of his gut.

However, there were more urgent issues on hand to attend and at the moment, he was the Royal Knight, Head of the Garrisons, Daniel from the obsolete and estranged House of Kang, and the man he wanted to hold was the Royal Prince, bearing the blood of noble family of Park, and the second in-line for the crown, Jihoon. 

“They attacked the two villages at the same time,and as we have expected, they use the gas from the coal to lull the people around,” Sungwoon, another Royal Knight, Head of the Vanguards, the only son from the House of Ha, reported to the Crown Prince. “We only stationed patrolling units because both the villages were tagged low risk; none of them were even in the same district as the villages attacked previously and the access from our country border were through rough terrains.”

“So, they are not targetting out outermost district, after all?” Crown Prince Seongwu questions, his eyebrows in deep furrow. “Isn’t that what we had assumed based on the first two attacks?”

“It seems like _I_ assumed wrong,” Jihoon answers through gritted teeth, feeling pissed off at himself more than at anything else. “They didn’t even loot much this time around - at this point, it probably just provocations, these damned barbaric nomads!”

Seongwu pats his brother’s shoulder gently, letting him know that no one could accurately predicted those attackers’ intention anyway. Belonging to no lands of their own, the nomads barely had any political-driven motives that were easier to guess and thus, it was right to assume that those attacks to their villages were an attempt of land conquering.

“We placed most of the troops at the here at Maekje, Masan and Namgu because it was easy access from the abandoned villages but if they bothered going through the hills to get into the other districts, it doesn’t look like they simply had changed their mind just because they caugh a whiff of our operations, then,” explained Sungwoon further. “Prince Jihoon and I were personally guarding the perimeter here at the night of the attack -“

“You were guarding in person?” Daniel snapped, looking at Jihoon directly.

“I am not only the commander on paper, Daniel,” Jihoon responded just as curtly. “We barely have enough people to cover all the points...”

“It’s good that they had attacked the other villages, then,” it was blurted out before Daniel could stop himself, and he had to bear the consequences when all eyes turned to him. There were looks of confusion and impending comprehension on Sungwoon and Seongwu’s faces but Jihoon simply looked livid, and Daniel stared at him head-on when he continued. “We can’t have the prince gassed to passing out. Any of royal family turned into a trade-off is the worst-case scenario at this point.”

Both Sungwoo and Seongwu murmured their agreement to the statement but Jihoon did not look appeased. 

“I don’t have be passed out to be a trade-off,” the prince said, his tone nonchalant as he tried to make it sound like a passing remark, but all of them knew that it was an untold truth – at least for now.

It was almost sundown when Daniel ticked off all the tasks that were entrusted to him and walked into the small house at Maekje where the entourage had temporarily made their base at. He put the situational reports that he had been preparing all day, from the updates on the injured army troops to the estimated number of rations that were needed more on top of those that they brought from the main city and distributed to the distressed villagers, on the table and pushed them towards Seongwu.

“For Advisor Hwang’s references,” he said pointedly.

Seongwu laughed as he took the reports. “I’m sure Minhyun will appreciate these, thanks, Daniel.”

Daniel huffed as loud as possible, and it was followed by a loud chuckle from Sungwoon who passed him a flask of water.

“Is Our Crown Prince playing favourite again? Are my troops not enough to protect his precious Minhyun? I am about to take offense,” he teased, realizing that they were alone in the vicinity without prying eyes that were strangers to the dynamics between them. After all, they had pretty much grown up together in the castle; Daniel, Minhyun, and himself, alongside the two princes.

“He had no problem letting me go on this operation, but Minhyun can’t even come for relief mission,” Jihoon joined in, enjoying the bashful look on his brother’s face; a look that he had not seen on the Crown Prince for a while, not since the King had hinted to push forward his coronation to the throne. Jihoon was glad he could not relate to such thing, but that was until the news of the district attack reached the castle, giving him a load of his own as the Commander-in-Chief of the defence troop.

“Minhyun can yield his swords quite well, you know – I spar with him regularly.”

“Well, I spar with him regularly, too; only with different kind of swords,” Seongwu came up with a playful retort, which the rest of the men responded with a loud jumble of vulgarity, as he had intended. The banters continued, and amidst that, his gaze crossed that of his younger brother. They shared a smile only in between them, knowing that for an instance, they were just men laughing over a harmless sexual joke, with friends that they could trust with their lives, their heavy mantles off their shoulders for a while.

 

Such small happiness, and how fleeting. 

The journey back to the castle was uneventful, but when they returned, none of them had barely refreshed when the King called them to his spacious and airy study room, where he now spent most of his time in. Next to him was the ever trusted Minhyun, who looked at them apologetically, either for their lack of recovery period from the trip or for the matter that they were about to find out.

Jihoon had to hear about his operation had failed, that he had not achieved anything more than further confirming the suspicion that they had had, and most importantly, let yet another district to be attacked under their noses and at some point, Minhyun started to read the statistics written in Daniel’s wriggly penmanship; the casualties, the damages, the loss and the measures they needed to take to return the order in both districts near the border, which was followed by Sungwoon’s situational reports in the defence line point of view, just right before Jihoon was about to tune off.

“We have placed all the units we can spare at the villages that with potentials to be attacked - but I am afraid - “

“We don’t have enough soldiers?” The King cuts him off - finally speaking after the whole while, and effectively alerting Jihoon to his full attention.

And Pandora box was opened, and next thing they knew, the King offered only two ways forward - one, to gather all capable men they had in the country and toto launch a war against the nomadic community believed to start the provocative attacks, or two - something the King had hinted previously, and Jihoon’s impending dread - to form such battalion without involving the commoners but in alliance with Taipan, the neighbouring kingdom with formidable army in term of power and size, which soundeda lot like the most desirable options if it was not for the fact that all the Emperor of Taipan asked in return was for Jihoon to permanently leave royal family of Daehan and to be included in Taipan’s sovereign assembly.

 

In seven days, the King had decided, without any involvement of the royal family members, the Royal Council, consisting of the representatives of the all old and noble families and the handpicked Advisory body - such as Minhyun and his likes - and Knighthood members - Daniel, Sungwoon and their fellow warriors - would decide whether Jihoon got to stay or to leave.

 

* * *

 

Daniel was not surprised to see Jihoon – or more specifically, his beautiful silhouette – behind the thin night blind that he had drawn before he left his room. The prince was sitting on the balcony, his feet hanging in the air, despite Daniel’s constant warning against it. Many years ago, young, hot-blooded Jihoon once flipped himself from sitting position to tip-toeing on the thickness of the stone barricade, proving his agility as to stop Daniel from worrying – but Daniel had never told him that it was not his safety that Daniel was wary for.

It was the fact that the relationship that had been going on in between Daniel and Jihoon was akin to an elephant parading along the hallways of the castle, and Jihoon freely hanging out - quite literally - on Daniel’s balcony was equal to dressing that elephant in a tutu.

~~~~

* * *

 

Jihoon knew Daniel’s choice; he did not have to ask. The way his thumb making circles on the back of Jihoon’s hand, and his eyes that wandered everywhere and everything under the dark backdrop before them but never meeting the shiny orbs that see only him, and the deep heaves of his chest in between the silence that was binding them – the answer was as clear as the starry night sky.

Yet Jihoon had to try, even if it was just for the sake of not having any regrets. Perhaps, at the slightest chance, Daniel shared the same thoughts as him, just like they had shared the same feelings for the longest time he could remember, then maybe they could make it work against all the odds.

Daniel turned to him, surprised, when he let go of their entwined hands, and Jihoon found it funny that it was all it took to make Daniel look at him. He had always wondered how he looked like in Daniel’s sight, if he was actually as _precious_ as Daniel had whispered to him when he asked or as _pretty_ as Daniel had chanted on top of him many times as he had his limbs all spread, lax in bliss.

( _Mine_ , he had told Daniel every time he was asked the same question in return. _All mine_ , he had reminded Daniel when he ran his fingers all over the knight’s muscled body, his favourite past time above anything else.)

“I don’t want to go, Daniel. Don’t make me go.”

A smile, the one that had been keeping his heart beating and also the very one that he would readily denounce all his titles for – and Jihoon knew Daniel’s choice.

Political alliance was the better devil, Jihoon heard Daniel say as he listened to the blood pumping behind the bare chest that he was ghosting his breath against. Their army troops were not enough to commence into a full-scaled war, and they would have to recruit farmers and traders that had never picked up any swords other than to admire the workmanship, and clearly having Taipan’s battalions marching with them was a more feasible prospective with the victory almost guaranteed – Daniel told him in his deep, slightly husky voice; the same voice that had egged him on and coaxed yet another orgasm out from him just minutes ago, and continued with more reasons that Jihoon had already ingrained his head but he wanted to keep listening to Daniel’s voice so he did not stop him.

“You understand, right?”

Jihoon did understand, with his whole being – but there were things that he understood yet he could not agree with, and this was one of them.

“So, you are choosing to send me away.”

He saw Daniel’s chest rose up in a deep intake of air, and watched it fall down again, long and slow as Daniel heaved out a sigh over his head. There was a silence, except for the sound of their breaths filling the room with life, constant and overlapping, like how Jihoon liked it, and how he wanted it stay to be.

“There will be men who will send the people they are supposed to protect into a war, knowing full well that they won’t return; but I am not and will never be one of them, my prince.”

* * *

 

 

Daniel was right.

Jihoon had expected it; a political alliance with a bigger country like Taipan was akin to pressing on an old bruise to some of the older generations who had lived through the turbulent period of the region eon years ago – and among those people were the representatives of the noble families that made up the Royal Council – but there were, surprisingly, more that Jihoon had initially thought. He had never liked them, those elderly men who cared about pretty much nothing else other than the gold their districts could give them in returns of the hard works of the people, and more often than not sneered at any whiff of changes suggested by their younger counterparts in the council; but in this particular meeting, Jihoon was holding to their votes.

“I _have_ people,” the elder from Ha family, Sungwoon’s very own grandfather, emphasised as he leaned on his handcrafted ironwood walking stick. “And they should be willing to fight for the country, honoured to, in fact! Shall they return as lifeless bodies, their wives will be grieving for heroes, and their sons and daughters will hear about their bravery and greatness. There are enough men I can spare from our district – tell me the numbers and my grandson will lead them on the march – that is the decision of my House.”

There were some murmurings from other House representatives as the old man eased into his seat slowly, while Sungwoon twitched uncomfortably on his own, his head held high yet his eyes not meeting anyone’s. Sungwoon’s opinion on the matter barely mattered at all for himself, because in either outcome, he would be marching on the frontline anyway, and alive or dead, would return as a hero to his House people, as his grandfather had announced. However, his vote was exclusive of that casted by his grandfather, as per his position as the Royal Knight, carrying more weight according to the Council, and at this point, Jihoon was not quite sure where his right-hand man stood in the situation.

The rest of the Council members were easier to predict, though.Minhyun, along with the rest of his family that consists of generations of scholars, represented by his father, a retired Royal Advisor, had voted against war inauguration, as expected of them.  Advisor Jisung, in charge of the castle and castle town provisions, represented the House of Yoon due to lack of notable male figures in family and had casted another vote for the political alliance, citing the figures freshly out from his notes on current supplies in his speech prior to announcing his stance. Other families seemed to lean more towards the choice that would affect them less in long term, and a pact with a foreign country perhaps looked like a threat to many of them, making sacrificing the disposable men that they had under their authority a more viable option.

“ – expelling out a prince from his castle and his ancestry and sending him off to another, _foreign_ royal family; do I have to spell how _outrageous_ that is? In no accounts of any country’s history a Royal family member need to suffer such humiliation on behalf of his people that are too cowardly to fight for the land that they swore their blood on! For the sake of Prince Jihoon, the pride and honour of our family, House of Park opposes the political alliance.”

The last words of the Park family representative rang loud and clear, and they incited more hushed agreements from the families with the same stances.

“This matter concerns more than the bravery of our people –“ Minhyun raised his voice amidst the mutterings around the table, but his speech was cut short as the Park representative slammed the table.

“I’m asking you, Advisor Hwang, who did you swear your loyalty to when you put on the grand cape that you strut around the castle in?

Jihoon could feel Seongwu shifted beside him and placed a hand on his arm to remind his brother that they were only to witness and not supposed to say a word or to be involved in any way in this particular discussion, despite the tension rising in the room. He had projected beforehand that his uncle would make a fuss, hot-tempered as he was, with unconditional loyalty toward the family and absolute pride for their noble lineage, and for Jihoon, the first royalty of their descent – but even so, the man perhaps had crossed a line; Minhyun’s integrity should not be questioned, not on his own, not in front of his House presentative and definitely not in presence of Seongwu. He tried to catch the man’s gaze, but his relative was now looking at someone else at the round table, and something in his stomach dropped.

“What’s with that look on your face? Have I crossed the Castle’s best swordsman, our strongest warrior? Someone of your calibre must have no objection on going to honourable battle for our land – especially after everything that _your_ Prince have done for you. Say, Daniel – whose Knight are you?”

Three seconds period, and the screech of the chair pushed back as Daniel stood up was the sound of the elephant in the room shot dead.

“I am a Royal Knight, and I swore to protect the Royal family, the Castle and its entirety. I’ll fight in battles if I must, and I will send _my_ Prince off to another castle if that’s where he will be safe at. That’s my stance, as the member of the Knighthood, and also the last of my family.”

* * *

 

 

Later that day, past the small feast thrown for Noble family representatives that were only invited to the Castle for special occasions, at the King’s study, Jihoon sat primly – very much like a fair maiden that was about to be wed off, he thought ironically – as Seongwu laid down the votes from the Royal Council members. He missed out the verdict of Sungwoon’s vote; the Knight had been ambiguous till the end of the discussion. Before he knew it, the King was looking at him with glistens in his tired, old eyes, and Jihoon did not realize how cold his hands were until his father enveloped them in between warm wrinkled palms.

Jihoon had once imagined how he would react if it was decided that the deal was to go through – he thought he would probably storm off the room dramatically, or maybe stared down at his father in defiance, or perhaps even cry over the inevitable injustice subjected to him but at the moment, he suddenly remembered how Daniel had averted his eyes, faint blushes on his pale cheeks when Jihoon mouthed “ _my prince_ ” at him over the salads selection during the feast – and he laughed.

He laughed, even as his father peered at him in wary and his brother visibly perplexed. He laughed like something good had happened, to the point that there were too many droplets of tears gather on his lower lashes that he had to wipe them off. 

“I’ll go, Father; I’ll do it.” 

* * *

“Daniel.”

“Hm?”

“Would you still choose the same if you were not a Knight?”

“What would I be if I were not a Knight, my prince?”

“Just... _mine_.”

“But I am _yours_ – all of me, in my shining armor.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks a lot for reading!!
> 
> I hope it’s not that bad?? sobs 
> 
> (please tell me it’s not that bad!!)  
> (also!! shout out to Tori and my lovely sugar baby, Belle, I am so sORRY FOR THIS AND I LOVE YOU TOO SO MUCH I WILL DO YOU JUSTICE ONE FINE DAY)


End file.
